Interaction Between MX Programs

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Macromedia comes close to having the look and feel of one large program with the Studio MX. If you're comfortable in one MX program, you won't feel lost in another because the user interface is so similar. Naturally, each program has its own purpose, and the tools and menus are different. But, the common user interface is easy to get around in.

Fireworks PNG Importer

 Fireworks MX   FreeHand and Flash have played well together for their last couple versions, but now Fireworks can play too. A bitmap that's been imported to FreeHand can be edited quickly by clicking the new Fireworks jump button at the bottom of the Object panel. When you save a Fireworks PNG document, and import it into FreeHand, you can edit it with all the vector tools that FreeHand offers and modify the effects that Fireworks has applied. Unfortunately, any texture effects you applied from Fireworks styles are lost in the translation. You have a basic fill instead. When you're finished in FreeHand and take the document into Fireworks again, you could be in for another unwelcome surprise if you want to put that style back to work. Applying a style to an object that has a (FreeHand) glow effect causes the new (Fireworks) style to go to the outer dimensions of the glow.

Launch/edit Flash

 Flash MX   If you have used original Flash file to create an SWF file that you've imported into FreeHand, a quick edit mode is available. Click the imported SWF file in the FreeHand document; then go to the Object panel. At the bottom of the panel you'll see the new Flash jump button. Click this button and Flash opens. You will be prompted to search for the original FLA file. After the document opens in Flash, the top of the window says Edit From FreeHand. Do any editing necessary, and click the Done button. You'll return to FreeHand with the newly edited movie in place, even if you rename the movie in Flash.

There are important considerations when working with Flash and FreeHand. It all has to do with the development and introduction of multiple products from a single manufacturer. First there was FreeHand 10, which allowed SWF export to Flash 5. Then Flash became Flash MX, which could understand FreeHand 10 files, but had no clue what a FreeHand MX file would look or act like. Finally, we have FreeHand MX, which would like to play nice with Flash MX, but can't because Flash doesn't understand FreeHand MX. What all this amounts to is that if you want to use a FreeHand file in Flash MX, you have to export it as a FreeHand 10 file. Then everyone gets along. At the time of writing FreeHand MX is still in its beta stage, but there is a Flash updater that is planned to ship with FreeHand MX that will allow Flash to read FreeHand MX data.

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